Vaccine side effects

You may experience minor side effects following vaccination. Most side effects last no more than a couple of days and you will recover without any problems.

Common reactions to vaccination include:

pain, redness and/or swelling where you received the needle

mild fever.

Serious reactions like allergic reactions are extremely rare. If you have a reaction that you think is severe or unexpected, seek medical advice straight away.

If you have any concerns about potential side effects of vaccines, talk to your doctor or nurse.

Vaccine safety monitoring

The TGA and the company that makes the vaccine closely monitor how well a vaccine is working and how safe it is in the community.

Vaccines are monitored and tested after their introduction in a number of ways, including:

further clinical trials

national surveillance

monitoring of serious side effects.

In Australia, immunisation experts actively monitor vaccine safety. They do this by following up vaccinated children and adults and asking if they have had a reaction. This data is made publicly available.

The TGA reviews these reports on a regular basis. The TGA can refer the reports as required to expert committees, such as the Advisory Committee on Vaccines (ACV). This ensures there is ongoing safety assessment of vaccines.

If you would like to report a side effect to a vaccine by telephone, you are encouraged to speak to a pharmacist from NPS MedicineWise on 1300 134 237. The pharmacist can both lodge the report and provide further advice on how to manage the side effect.

Mercury is no longer used in vaccines

Thiomersal which contains mercury was used as a preservative in some vaccines in very small amounts. Thiomersal was removed from all vaccines on Australia’s National Immunisation Program in 2000.

There is no scientific evidence the small amounts of the thiomersal used in vaccines caused any harmful effects in children or adults.

No established link between vaccines and autism

High quality studies over many years have compared the health of large numbers of vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Medical information from nearly 1.5 million children living around the world was able to confirm that vaccination does not cause autism.

The concern around autism and immunisation came from a paper published in The Lancet in 1998, claiming a link between the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and autism. The paper has since been completely discredited and was withdrawn from the Lancet in 2010. The journal printed an apology after withdrawing the paper.